NM first responders learn from active shooter drill

During training, public safety personnel learned they can do both: police seeking out the threat and at the same time providing a protective screen for rescue workers as they do their jobs

By Aurelio Sanchez
Albuquerque Journal

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In the wake of the Sandy Hook school and Aurora, Colo., movie theater shootings, Rio Rancho public safety personnel on Thursday took part in an “active shooter” training scenario to prepare for the unthinkable, yet possible.

“We decided it was time that we started to look at the potential of an active shooter or a mass shooter event here,” Rio Rancho Deputy Fire Chief Paul Bearce said, adding that he began discussions of setting up a joint exercise with Rio Rancho police officer Ray Alderete.

“It can happen anywhere, big towns, small towns, there’s no profile,” Bearce said, as a combined group of about 20 police and fire department personnel prepared to take part in the training scenario held in an empty building in north Rio Rancho.